Join Mizzou beat writer Dave Matter for his live chat at 11 a.m. Thursday
Bring your Tigers football, basketball and recruiting questions, and talk to Dave Matter in a live chat at 11 a.m. Thursday.
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Greetings, chatters. Lots to discuss. Busy day for Mizzou sports. Baseball starts a pivotal three-game series vs. Kentucky. Softball playing No. 12 Georgia. Gymnastics competes in the semifinal round of the NCAA Championships. Dennis Gates continues to build his coaching staff and just hired veteran coach Dickey Nutt. I'll be here for the next couple hours to talk all things Mizzou. -
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Yes, Sean East, recently named the national junior college player of the year, could very well end up at Mizzou. He's from John A. Logan Community College in Illinois. He's a point guard who can both score and facilitate. He began his career at Massachusetts, transferred to Bradley then spent this past season at John Logan. He's a player Cuonzo martin's staff was already recruiting but Gates has made a priority since landing the job. Mizzou has offered other point guard transfers, but East appears to be the top target.
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Good morning Dave,
I am having a problem keeping up with how many remaining scholarships the MIZZOU BB Team has. Three? Additionally, what's your insight into whose on the short list for these last few openings? Names/positions? Is Coach getting close to locking up these remaining players? Thanks -
If everyone on the current roster returns - and they have until May 1 to enter the transfer portal - and Christian Jones follows through on his letter of intent and ends up at Missouri, then Gates has only one more scholarship for the 2022-23 team. Here's the breakdown:Returning playersKobe Brown, forwardAmari Davis, guardBoogie Coleman, guardRonnie DeGray III, forwardKaleb Brown, guardYaya Keita foward/centerSigned high school recruitsChristian Jones, guard/wingAidan Shaw forwardTransfer commitmentsTre Gomillion, guard/wingDeAndre Gholston, guard/wingNoah Carter, wing/forwardMo Diarra, foroward/centerThat's 12 names with room for one more. Obviously, for every player you lose, you have another place to add a player.As for other targets, keep your eye on Cleveland State transfer D'Moi Hodge. He's a 6-4 guard, was the Horizon League defensive player of the year and led Gates' team in scoring with 15.4 points per game and 2.2 steals. Also, Jason Roche from The Citadel. He's the 3-point shooter this team lacks. He shot 39% from deep as a freshman.
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I read an article on the internet that led me to believe that JT Daniels chose WV over MIZ because he must have felt more confortable with the WV offensive coordinator when both were at USC. I thought maybe the prospect of playing with Luther Burden might convince him to come to Mizzou, but it didn’t happen. Given Daniels’s injury history over the last several years, IMO it is just as well that he cose WV. Maybe HCED thinks Daniels is an upgrade from Cook and Macon, but personally I am looking forward to seeing what both of these guys can do. It is hard to evaluate either of them due to the very limited playing time in the time they have been in COMO.
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Drinkwitz was the first coach to contact Daniels when he entered the transfer portal and stayed on him heavily throughout the process. That tells me he strongly wanted him as his 2022 quarterback. Drinkwitz spent the spring saying how badly he wanted to add a quarterback to the mix for this summer. He wasn't going to bring him here to serve as a backup. Mizzou clearly wanted Daniels as the starting quarterback. That doesn't mean Brady Cook or Tyler Macon or Sam Horn can't do good things this fall, but if Drinkwtiz was content with the group he has, he wouldn't have so aggressively pursued the two Daniels transfers, Jayden and JT.
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Another solid veteran assistant who knows the game. A guy like Nutt who's been around college hoops for 40 years will have good contacts on the recruiting trail and should be valuable on the bench. He knows Gates, knows Young, so there's not that get-to-know-you learning curve that new staffs sometimes have to deal with before chemistry develops.
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Several four-star QBs have offers for the 2023 class:Avery Johnson from KansasGabarri Johnson from Washington. Mizzou QBs coach Bush Hamdan spent some time in Seattle as Washington's OC, so he knows the area.JJ Kohl from Iowa has visited Mizzou a few times. Iowa State is probably the favorite here.Brock Glenn is a three-star target from Memphis. He recently told Rivals.com he's been impressed with visits to Mizzou and Mississippi State. Oklahoma State is also a contender.
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Here's some news for you this afternoon ...
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Assuming they add a transfer point guard and that's it for additions, this team should be more competent, but they're not competing for the SEC championship. You stack up the rosters in the SEC - which is difficult to do on April 14 with so many transfers still in the market and many players exploring their NBA stock - and Mizzou doesn't have a top-seven SEC roster yet. Diarra could deliver some much-needed size inside, but there's no guarantee that a juco transfer produces right away. Still need some shooters. How do you split minutes between Kobe Brown, DeGray and Carter, who all play a similar position? This roster - as it stands now - strikes me more as one that will help you get through the first year with a competitive record while the staff builds recruiting relationships for 2023 to put a much more complete team on the floor in year two.
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Daniels can sling it when healthy. I watched him pick apart Mizzou's defense in 2020 - a defense with an NFL starter at linebacker and two draft picks in the secondary. But you're right, he's not a running threat by any means - or at least hasn't been healthy enough to show off that part of his game in college. Again, if Drinkwitz was content with the QBs he has on the roster, he wouldn't have pursed the portal so heavily. I'd like to see what Cook can do in the role full-time. He's a better athlete than most realize. He's been very accurate every chance he's been given in games and scrimmages. He's an incredible competitor and has shown some impressive leadership qualities.
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Which four- and five-star players from Power 5 teams? There just aren't that many in the portal this year. The quantity of players is there, but there's not nearly as many high-profile high-major transfers on the market this year. Texas Tech's Terrance Shannon and Kansas State's Nigel Pack are two exceptions. Noah Carter was heavily pursued by other high-major programs. Gates mostly seems intent on adding players he knows from the Horizon League.
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How do commitments work in the transfer portal (and I guess high school commits as well) with scholarships and who the coaches want... Obviously Gates has a top 5 or top 10 list of players but it seems (understandably) he is offering to way more than a top 10. Let's says for example, a guy who would be the 15th option commits before the top 5 does he automatically get the scholarship or does Gates (any coach really) tell them to hang on while he waits for the higher rated players? I assume it is a take what you can get as soon as you can get it? But does that mean you possibly miss out on better player who may have committed a little later on?
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The staff reaches out to targets by phone or via social media to make a sales pitch and gauge their interest, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're extending an offer. That might develop over the course of the recruiting process, sometimes not until they make a recruiting visit. Coaches will make the players they want the most the highest priority, but if it becomes obvious that player isn't interested, they move onto the ones who are.
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What does the addition of Noah Carter mean for Kobe and Ronnie? Combo forward didn't seem to be a huge position of need and Mizzou is quickly running out of scholarships. Guys like Boogie, Yaya, Kaleb, and Amari probably won't want to transfer because it would likely lead to a step down in competition. Thanks, Dave!
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Kobe and DeGray can play the five in a small-ball lineup. It's not their best position, but they're versatile enough to see minutes there depending on the matchup. The returning players still have 16 days to enter the portal. I'm not sure why they would at this point if they haven't already, but you never know. Again, I don't expect the 2022-23 roster to have the look of a complete team ready to compete for an SEC championship.
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It's not really something anyone can have an opinion on. They either do have an open door to return or they don't. Again, they have 16 more days to enter the portal. I'm not sure why they'd wait until the last minute and potentially shrink their market while other teams load up on transfers. Gates hasn't addressed those players with any public comments and neither have the players.
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Do you think it will be harder for Mike Sandbothe-like recruits to secure P5 scholarships in the current college basketball landscape? Since the roster dynamics change so much from year to year with more kids going in and out of the program, seems like it would be harder to know what kind of glue guy the team would need from year to year and therefore more risk giving a scholarship to a limited player.
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Nah. Javon Pickett was the definition of a glue guy. He was an SEC starter for three years and will probably start for an A-10 contender next year. Tre Gomillion has the look of a glue guy for this Missouri team next year. Very few teams start only four- and five-star recruits.
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I like the roster Coach Gates is putting together. Noah Carter plays full-throttle and makes them better. Plus the addition of Cleveland State players will help as examples for the others on how Gates wants them to play. These additional players should make it harder on teams to shut down Kobe.
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How common is it in college basketball to "gently push" players off the team? Is it subtle, i.e. "you are going to be the 3rd string point guard" type of messaging OR is it more direct? How does either affect your future recruiting reputation amongst high schools?
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I'm not privy to those conversations, but I can't imagine every coach handles it the same way. Sometimes the coaches will be blunt. "Hey, you're better off playing somewhere else. I'll help you find a new school where you can play more." Or sometimes they're probably more diplomatic, but the reality is it happens all the time when players don't develop the way the staff envisioned.
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My contention is that Drink wants a sure QB to get him thru this season while gambling a current player will convince him his recruits can be the long term answer. A little of covering his axx to avoid a hot seat getting started. Keeping his recruits in the fold will be the big challenge if he succeeds in getting a transfer. Truthfully, I would like to see his current choices get the chance this year.
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Dave: It looks to me that Mizzou still has the same problem under Coach Gates that they had under CM last season: no shooting. None of the transfers have put consistently up good numbers from the 3 point line, and it stands to reason that they will shoot worse playing against better competition. Maybe good shooters aren't transferring, but I don't see a logical roster with so many redundant players--athletic wings who don't shoot well.
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Gomillion shot 43% from 3 last year. He didn't have a lot of attempts, but he proved he can make that shot. Gholston shot 37% as a sophomore. You can be a good team in college basketball without being a great 3-point shooting team, as long as you do other things well. All of these teams shot less than 32% last year: Auburn, LSU, Alabama, Creighton, Wisconsin, Arkansas, TCU. Pretty good teams.
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